Methodological adaptation of genetic identification in canned fishes (tuna, sardine and mackerel)

By adaptation of a novel procedure refered as FINS for "Forensicalty Informative Nucleotide Sequencing", we have set up a protocole in order to determine the animal origin of a specimen (ie. the species or breed of the animal used in a food preparation). This method is based on the analysis of DNA, a molecule bearing the genetic information. A specific DNA fragment is amplified by PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) using phylogeneticaly highly conserved oligonucleotide primers. The amplified fragment is sequenced. The obtained sequence is then entered for comparison into a data base, developped by the Canadian laboratory Bio-ld and completed by the French laboratory ATLANGENE APPLICATIONS. This data base contains many vertebrate species, including fishes, birds and mammalians from the whole world. We have been able to identify fish species, even after cooking and canning of the product. The specificity of the method is so high that we can distinguish all the species of the genus Thunnus so far tested (ie. albacore, yellowfin, bluefin and bygeye tuna fishes). Similar results were obtained for the genera Euthynnus, Auxis, Sarda, Scomber and fish from the Clupeidae family (sardine and sardine-type species).